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Take me back

There was a time, short though it was, that holds some of my fondest memories. I would wake up early, get myself ready for work as the others just started stirring, and would have breakfast waiting for them as they blearily made their way to the kitchen, before heading out to school and jobs. We all sat down together around the kitchen counter and shared that one meal, the only one I could count on each day where everyone would be present. For twenty minutes, or so, eating and conversation, was all that happened in the house. Did we solve any world problems? No. Were any major decisions made? Not really. The topics ranged from who did the cat trip this morning, what spectacular thing someone had on the agenda today, to just talking about the weather. Quite a bit of laughter could be heard around that counter five days a week, with each one of us on our best behavior towards each other. The important was we were a unit, sharing ourselves with each other against whatever was out there, before we stepped out into it. As I was sitting there, watching the exchange going on around me towards the end of that period of time, when I knew things were going to change, I wished I had it all recorded, that total nonsense we laughed about each morning. I had had a brief thought that I should install a camera high at the end of the counter, take the recorded content, and turn it into snippets of a show called “Breakfast with the Browns”. I didn’t. But what I do have is the memory of that time in our lives that we all shared, and it still gives me the same intense warm feeling as if I were still sitting there. I can’t remember the lost thirty minutes of sleep each day, but I carry closely the memories gifted to me by them.